World-renowned leaders—Andrew Weil, M.D. and Michael Pollan—meet local change agents to unveil solutions for healthy living, green jobs, and social justice.

[Pittsburgh, PA] – September 22, 2009- The first Three Rivers Bioneers (www.3riversbioneers.org) conference takes place this October 16-18, 2009 at the Pittsburgh Project on the Northside. The Three Rivers Bioneers (3RB) conference is a leading-edge forum highlighting breakthrough solutions for restoring people and planet.

I listen to a lot of podcasts during my work day, but the latest episode of The Art of Storytelling with Children demands particular notice. You should listen to it. You should really, really listen to it.

As I write this, Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 occupies the #9 slot on The New York Times‘ list of best-selling hardcover graphic books, where it has now spent the past four weeks. The comic portrays the adventures of “mice with swords”—what Variety called “a mix of Lord of the Rings and Stuart Little.” The Mouse Guard books don’t present a very detailed or intricate plot, or even terribly complex characters (though the Winter series has certainly done more on that account than the preceding Fall series); still, it has attracted a devoted following because it evokes, in its setting and in David Petersen’s gorgeous art, such a captivating world.

Last time, I wrote about the unexpected richness of roleplaying games—or more specifically, storyjamming—as part of rewilding, as a crucial, long-term survival skill. I found something else interesting at that unusual intersection: other people. Yes, other people, besides me, have an interest in both rewilding and roleplaying games, and even how roleplaying games can deepen, improve, and help our rewilding!

• The College of Mythic Cartography. You can’t talk about storyjamming without mentioning the man who coined the term, Portland’s illustrious Willem Larsen. I do take some pride in having a hand in pushing Willem to dust off his old teenage hobby and see the potential in it.

It gets lonely for rewilding folk out there. You can’t even discuss the things you hold dear, because more often than not, the people around you will consider you “eccentric” at best, and insane at worst. It can become deeply alienating. Even the most ardent person will feel doubt, even shame, beginning to take over. Great things happen when people with similar perspectives meet. I’ve seen the energy of that rare affirmation before. Such people can build off of each other’s energy, and start something really great. In exile, we’ve found ourselves with very few people we can really talk to. We want to help foster a local rewilding “scene,” a local network for sharing skills, ideas, and perspectives. If you live in the Allegheny, Monongahela, or Upper Ohio watersheds, please consider joining the Rewild Pittsburgh group I started on Facebook. From there, I hope we can expand and do more, but first, we need to find each other!

I considered it an honor to work with Peter and Willem on the new Rewild.info. When they first suggested narrowing the focus to organizing Rewild Camps and Rewild Havens, I reacted with skepticism. “Wouldn’t that cut out a lot of really important discussions?” After we talked about it, though, I saw their point. But apparently others have had the same reaction I had. So, I took the time to sit down and write out what the new Rewild.info sets out to achieve, why I consider it important, and what part you might play in it. The new focus doesn’t exclude any of the discussions that the old site supported—it just reframes them in a context that points back to the real world.

The Medicine Woman’s Roots is having a blogparty! I have no idea what that is, but it sounds like fun. Apparently, to participate, you’re supposed to write a blog post on the topic of “Sweet Medicine” – “the many delicious ways of preserving herbs, from cordials and elixirs to meads to herbal honeys and syrups!” I am the most amateur of amateur herbalists, but I did once take an herbal medicines class at Raccoon Creek State Park where they taught me to make horehound cough syrup. It’s basically just a mixture of horehound tea and honey, it tastes delicious, and it works like a charm. The natural response to trying it out, in my experience, is, “Mmm, this is good! Now, how can we maximize the honey content?”

Yesterday, I took my stand against personal responsibility. Yes, against personal responsibility. I’ve certainly never had to overcome any shyness about making bold statements when I had reason to make them. Over a year ago, I wrote about vicious and virtuous cycles, including their role in my own life. I wrote about getting a new job, and a new apartment.

The move away from the start-up culture afforded me more time away from work, though not at first. I worked fewer hours, but the location required a long commute through heavy traffic. I came home exhausted, and because I no longer walked to work, my health suffered further. I remained trapped there until my lease finally ran out. Once that happened, I returned to suburbia.

One of the major symptoms of depression is withdrawing from other people. So it’s interesting that as we civilized folks have withdrawn as much as we can from the rest of the community of life, depression has gotten more common. Much like someone suffering from depression distances himself from other people, most of us Americans distance ourselves from nature. A depressive thinks he’s alone; we wonder if we’re alone in the universe, as if theoretical life on other planets would somehow make more legitimate company than the life on our own. Is it any wonder, then, that taking a walk in the country has been found to help treat depression?

Jon Young emphasizes the idea of a “sit spot” in a tracker’s education: a spot where you go, daily if possible, to spend time observing. You see how things change according to time of day and time of year; you learn to sit still and observe the world closely; you become intimately familiar with one spot and begin to understand the different relationships and encounters that go on there. I could go on forever—in fact, Jon has often said that your sit spot will become your best tracking teacher, and that nothing will teach you more about the more-than-human world.